(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters.  If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment.  If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
 
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.”
 
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: structurally, the entire Evil Dead franchise kinda/sorta escapes me.
 
You see, I’ve always been of the mindset that in order for Horror to work on me cerebrally is that I have to understand its universe.  Unlike many others, I need to know how and why some spectral entity does what it does because that informs precisely how and why its release is so treacherous on the potential victims.  Whether it be simple possession or merely the ability to pluck hallucinations out of thin air which drive the sufferers a bit batty, the procedures matter because then I’m in on exactly how these unfortunate souls are being driven not only out of their minds but also out of breath.  When I have to fill in those blanks on my own, I grow personally frustrated with the process mostly because I’ll always find instances wherein developments make little narrative sense.  At its worst, such an effect has me shutting down entirely.
 
Well … this brings me back to trying to quantify in simple terms why I’ve always struggled with the Dead films: rarely can I admit to understanding what’s taking place.
 
Of course, proponents of these films insist that that’s the sheer beauty of the franchise, that not everything taking place unfolds logically because logic wouldn’t, couldn’t, and shouldn’t exist in authentic Horror.  The flaw in such a position is that nothing should make sense; and, yet, there are many occurrences that do.  A young boy finding some hidden subterranean church – opened up by some earthquake – as happens in Evil Dead Rise (2023) is both logical and illogical simultaneously.  I mean … who builds anything on top of an old religious crypt?  But also … urban sprawl often sees big cities building new structures atop of old ones in the rush to keep up with growth.  See what I mean?  The core foundation of how the Dead is where it is both makes sense and doesn’t; and, frankly, each installment into this franchise operates in much the same way.
 
Beth (played by Lily Sullivan) finds herself at a curious crossroads: while pursuing her preferred life as a ‘high tech’ roadie for a rock’n’roll show, she’s aghast to find herself out of wedlock and pregnant, an occurrence that while might be morally objectionable also means her career on-the-road arguably needs at least a temporary overhaul.  Mildly despondent, she takes the night off to visit with her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her children Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher).  Before the two mildly estranged siblings can really have their shared heart-to-heart, the dilapidated building grows even more chaotic when a chance quake unleashes an unseen force which possesses Ellie into pursuing a life of murderous crime on both her family and neighbors.
 
Like its predecessors, Rise dispenses with mostly following any specific formula for its frights and, instead, just shifts into fourth gear as quickly as humanly possible and starts ratcheting up the body count in ways more creative.  Possibly to the surprise of watchers, Rise eventually even makes casualties of a few children – possessed and bloodthirsty kids are always creepy – leaving absolutely no doubt to whether or not the central demon so much as thinks twice about whose life gets destroyed along the way.  Evil here is unquestionably evil, and writer/director Lee Cronin arguably gets delight out of reaching for the unexpected in ways that should terrifying all God-fearing types.  Once blood is spilled, only more (and more and more and more) spillage should be accepted in subsequent killings; and – come the big finish – I’ve no doubt a small fuel tanker filled with red-tinged corn syrup was required to bring this closing to life … and death.
 
Seriously: I’ve never seen this much blood in a motion picture.  Ever.  That deserves to be said; and – yes – it deserves to be seen.
 
Alas, where this Dead doesn’t quite Rise for me is the fact that – like a great many Horror chillers – its central entity is quite ignorant of the ways to accomplish the necessary ends in the most expeditious ways.  When the audience is eventually shown that the demon can possess multiple decedents simultaneously, I can’t help but wonder why it didn’t do that earlier.  When possible, why not occupy as many bodies and bring them back to life?  Certainly, that would make quick business of getting inside Ellie’s locked apartment instead of standing outside and putting on a show via the peephole, wouldn’t it?  Using a small squadron of Deadites earlier would definitely have brought a great deal of these festivities to a quick end.  Granted, using such a zombie platoon would’ve eliminated the need to meld all of the undead into the chimerical what’s-it of the big showdown, but I’m still not quite certain how the Evil Dead thought that creature was a good idea to begin with.  I mean … just who exactly is in charge when four or five or six people are blended together?  Is there one mind, or are there six?
 
See what I mean?  I can overthink a puzzle.
 
There’s also the confusing set-up and epilogue – Evil Dead Rise is sandwiched between a kinda/sorta flashback involving some even more greatly expendable characters whose Fate we already know from the introduction.  Some kids at a cabin find themselves overrun with the central dark spirit, and – for the life of me – the only central reason for these segments to be here is because Cronin apparently wanted a throwback to the original The Evil Dead (1981), meaning he wanted it set in a quiet and secluded forest.  Otherwise, there’s no reason for this side story to even be in here; and I wonder if others watching felt the same.
 
However, kudos to the director for amping up the entire picture with some of the most spirited cinematography I’ve seen in Horror in quite some time.  Stylistically, he gets great mileage out of a creepy old tenement building – who couldn’t? – but he manages to squeeze a great many extra design elements into the frame that others might’ve deemed – ahem – superfluous if not downright gratuitous.  There’s a fabulous set of scenes rendered entirely through the peephole to Ellie’s flat, and I can’t help but wonder if some budding auteur might pick up that little technique and figure out a way to conceive a whole motion picture from the perspective.  Like demonic possession, I would figure the opportunities are endless. 
 
Evil Dead Rise (2023) was produced by Ghost House Pictures and Wild Atlantic Pictures.  DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Arrow Films.  As for the technical specifications?  While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that -- wow -- Rise both looks and sounds damn incredible from start-to-finish.  If it’s a visual spectacle you behold, then you’ll not go wrong with Arrow’s 4K upgrade.  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  This is Arrow, and they never disappoint.  The disc is chocked full of just about everything possible – a commentary, cast interviews, etc. – but for my money the best time spent is with the film first and then the individual actress interviews: Sullivan and Sutherland’s reflections are keen, and both share the type of insider moments that fans are always hungry to hear about.
 
Recommended … but only for its mindless gratuitousness, which only makes it worth a single viewing at least.
 
Folks, it isn’t that I dislike the whole Evil Dead franchise because despite my confusion I’ve seen every installment at least once if not twice.  My disillusionment with it is that it’s a Horror universe I’ve yet to fully understand the mechanics of.  Things either happen or don’t happen that defy narrative logic – I know, I know, it’s only a movie – so routinely that I can’t help but chalk a lot of it up to a screenwriter’s contrivance (one of the things I’ve always hated passionately).  Still, it’s all accomplished with such aplomb that I do find it hard to look away.  What can I say?  Buckets and buckets and buckets of blood can do that to a person.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Arrow Films provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray copy of Evil Dead Rise (2023) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review.  Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.

-- EZ

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 2007 (in Ireland and the United Kingdom), audiences were treated to another bout of White Noise with the big screen release of White Noise 2: The Light.  Directed by Patrick Lussier from a story by Matt Venne, the film starred Nathan Fillion, Katee Sackhoff, Teryl Rothery, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"Following the loss of his family, a man attempts suicide only to discover upon waking that he can identify people who are about to die."

For the record:
At the 2008 Saturn Awards, White Noise 2: The Light received a nomination in the category of Best DVD Release.

-- EZ
​

So many movies ... so much to celebrate!!!

On this day in 1954 (in Italy), one of the screen's most reliable names in Horror was back in the business with the theatrical release of The Island Monster.  Written (in part) and directed by Roberto Bianchi Montero, the Crime/Fantasy starred Boris Karloff, Franca Marzi, Renato Vicario, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"An Italian government agent is assigned to break up a drug smuggling ring on the island of Ischia but his daughter is kidnapped by the gang."

-- EZ

So many movies ... so much to celebrate!

On this day in 1948 (in the U.S.), the war wasn't quite over until it was fought by the Women In The Night!  Written (in part) and directed by William Rowland, the SciFi/Drama starred Tala Birell, William Henry, Richard Loo, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"As World War II nears its end, beautiful women forced to serve as sex slaves in a German officer's club, do what they can to destroy the plans of a cosmic death ray."

-- EZ

So many movies ... so much to celebrate!

On this day in 1940 (in the U.S.), The Shadow made his original big screen debut.  Directed by James W. Horne from a story by Joseph F. Poland, Ned Dandy, Joseph O'Donnell, and Walter B. Gibson, the Fantasy/Thriller starred Victor Jory, Veda Ann Borg, Roger Moore, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"The Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is trying to take over the world with his death ray."

-- EZ

Over the years as a reviewer, I’ve scribbled down a great many words about why it’s so very important for any film’s central story to make perfect sense.
 
Of course, there are a great many pieces that have to come together in order for this to be the inevitable result.  There needs to be a solid introduction, both to the world and its circumstances as well as the key players.  Every event that transpires should feel natural and organic to the stated premise or theme; while a twist and turn here or there can debatably help in keeping audiences primed and listening, too much of such trickery can easily derail the procedure and leave even casual viewers scratching their heads over what went down.  Lastly, it should go without saying – but I’ll say it anyone – that construction needs to be headed by an inventive director who has been great effort into insuring that each and every segment weaves effortlessly with those before and after; and he (or she) should be a steward of delivering something that’s worth watching because – let’s face it – ninety-minutes (or whatever the running time) can never be recovered.  No one likes to end on a sour note; reputations can be made or lost in a single outing, so it’s important that everyone involved ‘get it right’ the first time.  Otherwise, what’s the point?
 
That said, Kansas City Confidential (1952) has always been that exception to the rule for me.  So very much has been said about the flick – a great many who know vastly better than I claim it to be one of the best crime and/or Film Noirs ever committed to the medium – and I’ve read an awful lot of it not so much because I wanted to but more so as I’ve tried to come to grips with what I might be missing from my time spent with its subtle charms.  If that sounds as though I’m disappointed with director Phil Karlson’s picture, then nothing could be further from the truth: in fact, I grow fonder of it each time I see it.  My confusion results from the fact that – as I stated above – films need to function seamlessly in order to achieve results; and – in my humble opinion – this one just doesn’t.  It’s one of those kinda/sorta silly set-ups that surpasses its weaknesses almost as if they were never really there.  For the life of me, I can’t quite figure out how or why; and I’ll likely go to my grave perplexed over why I enjoy its curious highs and lows as much as I do.

(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters.  If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment.  If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
 
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million-dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.”
 
Confidential opens with Tim Foster (played by Preston Foster) scoping out what looks to be his next big heist from the quiet comfort of a hotel bedroom window.  Across the street, there’s this savings and loan located next to a florist shop; and the mastermind is timing these businesses respective openings and delivery schedules down to the minute.  In a curious stroke of luck, both just happen to have trucks parked out in front at the same time, giving Foster the inspiration that he can use one vehicle as a distraction for his inevitable getaway.  You see, he wants to rob the bank of a cool $1.2 million; and he figures he can finger the florist’s delivery man as a potential patsy in the process.  Now all he needs is a crew to pull off the job; and the next few scenes show he’s not without a handful of cronies who want in on the gig.
 
Still, the genius of Confidential is Foster isn’t who the audience is led to believe he is.  In point of fact – something watchers don’t learn until the second half of the picture – he’s a former police chief who left his role in disgrace because the wheels of justice don’t always turn freely.  Sometimes, the system creates victims out of even the do-gooders, forcing them to walk away from protecting and serving as a consequence of one ill-timed decision; and this former LEO is harboring a grudge, one which has him taking the law into his own hands to turn the tables on the murderers, thieves, and rapists he couldn’t quite capture because wearing the badge kept him from doing things differently.  In the process, Foster hopes to gain the reward money, a hefty chunk of change totaling $300K that’ll replace the retirement funds he lost by being forced into unemployment.
​

It’s exactly this type of narrative twist that – in lesser occasions – spoils an otherwise good crime thriller, but the script attributed to Karlson alongside John Payne, Rowland Brown, Harold Greene, Harry Essex, and George Bruce works uncharacteristically well by playing its cards close to its chest from start-to-finish.  Somehow, all involved manage to keep a kinda/sorta silly conceit like requiring all of the criminals to wear a mask when they’re together – making it impossible to identify one another if they’re captured by authorities – work as well as it does.  Only Foster – the ‘big man,’ as he’s dubbed here – knows all of their faces; and he even concocts a rather elaborate scheme to lure his ‘cohorts’ out of the country to split up their shares of the bank job at a later date. 
 
What Foster doesn’t foresee, however, is the fact that the floral delivery guy they set up as a patsy to take the fall – Joe Rolfe (John Payne) – is himself a former convict who isn’t about to go quietly into the night now that his life and career have been derailed from being briefly branded as returning to a life of crime.  Instead, Rolfe decides to take matters into his own hands, to hunt down the guilty parties, and presumably make them pay for him being played as a pawn in their criminal affair.  Yet, the truth is to Rolfe’s character is that – as a decorated soldier – he’s not so much a heavy as we’re initially led to believe: as it turns out, even Foster takes a shine to the man, more so once it turns out that his daughter Helen (Coleen Gray) is smitten with the big lunkhead.
 
Now, there’s a lot more to Confidential than what I’ve laid down.  In fact, there’s a great deal more: it’s a surprisingly serpentine plot which sticks reasonably well to its central premise despite the fact that identities keep getting slightly redefined along the way.  No one – and nothing – is exactly what it seems in the first half; and the second turns the yarn into a kinda/sorta ‘locked box’ thriller wherein the baddies – along with Helen – find themselves at a ‘south of the border’ resort waiting to divvy up the bank haul and head their separate ways.  But Foster – always the mastermind – hasn’t quite thought things through perfectly: though he loses his own life in the closing scenes, he goes to his grave with full knowledge that he’s left his daughter in the right hands – Rolfe’s – after all.
 
To my utter astonishment, every twist works.  It ain’t perfect.  There are a few sequences involving thugs Boyd Kane (Neville Brand) and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef) that only work because of a convenient and mildly contrived development; and yet even with these minor misfires director Karlson keeps everything humming efficiently through moments big and small.  Veteran character actor Jack Elam figures prominently into the film’s first half: his career grifter Pete Harris doesn’t seem long for this world – nor does he make it to the big finish except with his identity stolen (by Rolfe) – and Elam works some serious magic in only the handful of scenes he’s given.

What’s surprising missing from Confidential – especially noteworthy given the fact that so many revere it as one of the screen’s best film noirs – is a true femme fatale, that shadowy manipulator of the fairer sex who’ll stop at nothing to see that she’s given only life’s best treasures.  Helen is presented as about as pure as wind-driven snow – a bit over-the-top, if one insists – even crafted as budding law student who is on the cusp of passing the bar for her lawyer’s license.  The closest viewers get to a legitimate temptress is the resort’s resident merchant Teresa (the lovely Dona Drake), a decidedly good-looking sport who uses her sexiness more to sell perfume than anything else.  While a femme fatale would’ve been nice, there truly was no room for anyone else to be pulling the strings in this whole affair, so perhaps it’s best to leave this one all to the boys.  There’s clearly no shortage of testosterone.
 
Kansas City Confidential (1952) was produced by Associated Players & Producers.  DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Film Masters.  As for the technical specifications?  While I’m no trained video expert – and I’ve read that the picture is in public domain – I can assure readers that this looks and sounds probably about as good as it’s ever going to get.  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  The disc boasts a commentary track by author and critic Jason A. Ney; and – for what it’s worth – it’s good … maybe a bit more academic than most, but that’s not a bad thing.  There’s also a collector’s booklet with linear notes by Don Stradley.
 
Strongly Recommended.
 
The thing that’s always surprised me about Kansas City Confidential (1952) – which I’ve seen several times – is that it both does and doesn’t follow a great many of the typical Film Noir requirements and yet still works like a charm for those of us who like this sort of thing.  The story’s central point-of-view shifts more than once – at one point begging into question just who’s story is it anyway – but come the big finish everything that needed to take place in order to tie everything together works damn near perfection.  Greatness aside, it’s easy to quibble with some of the fine points – no believable female role, some of the hard-boiled dialogue feels a bit campy, not even the cops seem to suffer any ill consequences of their actions, etc. – but there’s no denying the fact the resulting film is that rare gem that congeals exactly the way it should.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Film Masters (via Allied Vaughn) provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Kansas City Confidential (1952) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review.  Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.

-- EZ
​